Summer Update - from Ray

Long time no blog. The boys and life in general have kept us very busy.

It seems like we've had the boys for a long time now, but it is actually less than a year. We are coming up on Jake's sixth birthday this Sunday. Amazingly enough, Jake understands barely any Russian/Ukrainian at all. Riley still understands enough for me and him to have some simple conversations, but he forgets a lot of words and his grammar may be worse than mine. He can still roll his "R"s like crazy.

While the boys have become very fluent, they are still finding a lot of words they aren't familiar with. It is usually more complex and uncommon words that confuse them, but sometimes it's the simple ones that stump them. For example: They know the word "frosting" for what goes on cakes and cupcakes. I grew up with the word "icing" for that, but it's not what they first learned.

We are also continuing to have other firsts. This past weekend we watched some fireworks with the family up by Lake Wawasee. Before fireworks started, I pointed out lightning bugs to them. They jumped and ran down to catch them with no prompting whatsoever. I had talked to the boys about these strange bugs a long time ago and this was the first sighting of them. They are usually in bed before dark since daylight savings started. The fireworks were good. They had seen some minor fireworks in Ukraine, but nothing like this show.

On Monday night our neighbors got together and they lit some small ones off. On the 4th, they saw the big show down in Fort Wayne and that was probably one of the best shows I've seen. They really enjoyed all of them.



Also on the 4th, we got together with the Sugar Tree gang and the kids played on a slip and slide then had a bike decorating contest and parade. The decorating and parade were Pam's idea and the kids loved it.

I've also started loading some videos of the kids on Google Video. Here's one from the slip & slide action on July 4th.

Our First Christmas Together

(written by Pam)

Jake and Riley are pictured here on Christmas Eve at their Grandma Fenton's house. We had already been to church and this was right before we started to open the gifts. As you can tell, they were pretty darn happy!

Christmas morning was a lot of fun and the boys actually slept in until about 7:30 that day. We had been out late on Christmas Eve so they were tired. Riley was the first up and checked out the tree and went back and reported to Jake that there were presents under the tree and their stockings were full! We stayed home on Christmas Day and the boys played with all their new toys and never even changed out of pajamas the whole day. (Click on the photo pages link for Christmas Pictures)

We went to Ohio the day after Christmas and celebrated with the Stephens and Conway families. The boys had a great time playing with their cousins and they loved all their gifts from Aunt Linda and Uncle Bill and Grandma and Grandpa Stephens.

I think the most touching moment of the holidays for me was watching their faces as they sang "Silent Night" by candlelight at church on Christmas Eve. Their sweet faces were lit up by the candlelight and our hearts were filled with joy that they are our boys. Of course, by the end of Christmas vacation all I could think about was getting back to our normal schedule and shoving Riley out the door for school! Ah, parenthood.

Ray had a lot of fun playing with the GI Joe "Action Figures" and helping the boys build legos. Actually, he had fun with all of their toys! All in all, it was a great first Christmas with our boys.

Update on Jake

Jake is our easygoing boy, but he does have his moments! When he first came home from Ukraine he had a tendancy to throw flat out screaming tantrums when he was told "no" or disciplined. I guess that is pretty normal for kids in an orphanage. He is doing much better and is a good boy about doing things when he is asked.

He really loves our dog, Sasha, and is frequently seen hugging and kissing her. Sometimes during the day when Riley is at school, I will see Jake playing and Sasha is sitting as close as possible to him. And since Jake is the child who spills his food or drink quite frequently, that also encourages Sasha to stick close to him!

Jake started going to pre-K a couple weeks before Thanksgiving and he is really enjoying school. He goes on Tuesday and Thursdays from 12:30 to 3:30 and there are only 7 children in his class. School has really helped him pick up English. He had a tendancy not to try very hard with English since Poppa and Riley understood what he was saying. But with Mama and everyone else wondering what the heck he was saying, he has started using a lot more English. He is really good at cutting, coloring, and he can tie his shoes.

Jake is always quick with a big smile that melts your heart! He likes to play with legos and he really likes to do puzzles. He is hooked on Playstation like all American boys but Mom won't let him sit in front of the tv all day!

Update on Riley

The teachers at school say that Riley greets them every morning with a great big smile! He is adjusting to school very well, although it's a struggle for him to do spelling and a lot of his assignments. It's really amazing how far he has come in only three months since we got back. He has made friends at school and excels at gym class. He also loves music class and he goes around singing at home quite a bit.

Riley is not as easygoing as Jake, but hey, who ever gets two easy going kids? He can be mopey and smarts off every now and then, but that also comes with the territory of a nine year old. He has a good heart and is always willing to help people and is especially kind to younger children. I think that comes from the orphanage and taking care of his brother and the other small kids.

He is very athletic and can roller blade like you wouldn't believe. He put on ice skates at Thanksgiving for the first time and took off blazing around the rink! He is also fast at riding his bike. The boys love their bicycles and are sad that it's too cold and snowy to ride anymore. They do like going outside and playing in the snow and sledding.

Riley loves to draw cards and make pictures and generally any kind of cutting, pasting, and gluing! He is lucky that he has a Mama who has a closet full of craft things to play with. He likes all of my scrapbooking stuff and gets my cast off stickers and paper. He also loves the Playstation and any kind of computer games.

Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama, Mama

Gosh, I can't even tell you how many times a day I hear the word Mama! It does get old, but then I stop and think how good it is to be called Mama after waiting so long. And how much we love our boys. It's just been unbelievable how fast they have adapted to coming to a new home and getting a new family.

They love our parents and all of their cousins. They have stayed overnight at Grandma and Grandpa Fenton's house several times since we have been home and they love wrestling with their Grandpa Fenton. Over Thanksgiving we stayed with Ray's sister and brother-in-law and their three children in Ohio. The boys had so much fun playing with their cousins. Not to mention a houseful of toys that they could play with.

Food was quite an issue when we first got back as they didn't want anything but potatoes and sausage. And fried eggs. Food in the orphanage is very bland and they are slow to try spicy foods or ethnic foods. They just recently decided they like peanut butter and I told them they are now "All American" boys since they eat peanut butter sandwiches. It was pretty frustrating to cook a meal and have them both say "yuck". But as the weeks have gone by, I get more and more thumbs up on the meals I am cooking. Or as Jake says "yum yumchka".

Both boys have grown an inch and a half since we got back in September. Jake's face has thinned out quite a bit and you can tell that they both are taller. They are good sleepers and once they hit the bed at night they are out pretty quick. Jake was taking a nap in the orphange and still takes one every couple of days or he gets really tired out.

We have been making a lot of Christmas crafts and our house is decorated with all sorts of cute homemade items from school and church. The boys and I recently went sledding at a local park and we rushed out to make snowmen when the snow was just right the other morning. I have always been a kid at heart and now I have some kids to play with!

We are really looking forward to our first Christmas with our new family. We have been very blessed this year and may all of you experience the the joy and happiness of the season.

Take care everyone, Pam

Proud Poppa

I'm having a good time with the boys. They can be a handful at times, but I really enjoy them. Riley and Jake are BOYS - the real deal. They love riding their bikes, climbing, jumping, wrestling, playing video games, watching action movies and any superhero cartoon or movie they can see.

I really enjoy having an opportunity to share some of the "Skolna" or cool things I know. They've watched a few of my favorite movies with me and as long as they aren't too dialogue intensive (which they seldom are) they lock in and watch. Afterwards, they may try out some new fighting moves or reenacting a scene, but that's to be expected.

The boys, as I've mentioned, like to fight and I'm much more open to them doing that than Pam is. I realize that they are just doing it for fun and it burns off some of their energy. Riley is bigger, faster and stronger than Jake for now, but Jake can take more punishment than Riley too. In another year or two, Riley will only be able to say he's faster. At that point, he's got to hope that faster is good enough or Jake will pound him. I've warned him a few times that the day is coming when Jake will be bigger than him. He disregards it - there is no way his "little brother" will ever be bigger than him.

Riley is really coming along with his English and learning to read very quickly. Since starting preschool, Jake's actually finally started to use English. He's picked up so much in such a short time, it staggers the mind. He was understanding a lot before, but now he's also saying it. The other schoolwork is going to take some time. Riley's math and spelling are far less than perfect, but we are working on those.

Last week was a busy one!

We ran around last week getting the boys in to the dentist on Monday and a pediatrician on Wednesday. We stopped in at Verizon to see where Dad works and check out his office. And of course meet everyone who had heard and read all about them. (And get a lot of candy and treats from their Dad's co-workers!)

On Thursday Ray and Riley went to the school and got Riley registered at Northcrest school which has and ESL (English as second Langage program). Riley started this Monday, the 19th and seems to be doing pretty well. He will have two hours of tutoring a day to learn English. And his teacher sent a note yesterday that said she found a fifth grade student that speaks Russian and can come down anytime and tranlsate if they need it.

Ray is back to work as of Wednesday, the 21st, and Jake and I are home during the day. Finally I can get some things done and get organized. We assembled bunk beds for their room and a new dresser last Friday. Just need some storage bins for the toys. I have been doing laundry like crazy and running the dishwasher every day! Ray and I are holding up pretty good but we have had our "crabby" moments. It's just been a little overwhelming with these guys. We are starting to get in a routine with the school and bedtimes, etc. I am going to start looking at pre-school for Jake a few days a week. He needs to be with other kids and play.

Jake and Riley seem to be adjusting very well and are at home in our house and with us and our families. It really is amazing how quickly they adapted and became our boys. We get kisses and hugs from them and wake up to a couple of boys jumping in our bed with us in the morning! Sasha (our dog) is getting used to the noise level and realizes that when Ray uses his discipline voice that it's usually for the boys and not her. (His "dog" discipline voice and "boy" discipline voice are the same). They boys love our dog and frequently hug and kiss her and want to feed her.

We will try to get a few more pictures up soon. Take care, Pam-Ray-Riley-Jake